Rental Car

• If renting a car, use one of the state contracted vendors for rental cars. Currently they are: Avis, Budget and Enterprise. Use your State Travel VISA card to pay for the rental, and accept or decline all insurance depending on what was decided when you called 1.800.VISA.911. Keep all original rental car gas receipts plus the rental car receipt. Decline all insurance it comes with your State Travel VISA card. Regardless of which rental car agency you use, you'll need to obtain a printed copy of the zero-balance receipt in order to receive reimbursement. For more information on policies regarding rental cars, please see the basic ordering agreement. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are only available for rental if the trip requires their use.
  
  

Personal Car Use

• January 1, 2009 - The State has identified new rates for reimbursement of business miles driven in a personal vehicle. The standard rate is 50 cents per mile and the 4-wheel-drive rate is 53 cents per mile. These rates apply to reimbursable miles (miles driven in excess of the usual round-trip commute). The 4-wheel-drive rate applies only when 4WD is necessary due to the nature of the trip. Travel that begins before January 1 and ends after January 1 will need the mileage broken out between the two different rates.
  
  
• Reimbursable mileage is still calculated as the number of miles you had to drive for business purposes in excess of your usual round trip commute.
  

Meals & Incidential Expenses

• Meal per diem rates may be found here.
  The authorized meal per diem rate may be claimed for each meal the traveler would normally have eaten while traveling. If a meal is included in a conference fee the meal shall not be claimed for reimbursement unless the meal is determined to be inadequate by the traveler. If a meal provided by a commercial carrier as part of the transportation ticket is deemed inadequate by the traveler then the per diem for that meal can be claimed. Travel before 9 am qualifies you for breakfast, between 11-2 pm for lunch, and after 5pm for dinner.
  
  The incidental expense per diem may be used for personal telephone calls, miscellaneous incidental tips such as bellhops and maids, and other miscellaneous items. These items will no longer be itemized on your Travel Voucher. For each day or part of a day while traveling you can request the Incidentals portion of the per diem without receipts up to the maximum for each city.
  
  For foreign travel the breakdown of the per diem and incidentals is 15% for breakfast, 25% for lunch, 40% for dinner, and 20% for incidentals.
  
  
• What about the first and last days of a trip:
  On beginning and end travel days, reimbursement cannot exceed 75% of the daily M&IE per diem rate, regardless of the time the traveler departed or returned.
  
  
• What if the trip lasts only one day:
  If travel is wholly within a single day and if the trip lasts 12 hours or more, then meal reimbursement is allowed. Reimbursement cannot exceed 75% of the daily M&IE per diem rate. Meal reimbursements for single-day trips are reportable as income for CU employees.
  

Receipts

• Keep original, itemized receipts for transportation, hotel, etc. Here is some frequently requested information about receipts.
  
  

Foreign Travel Assistance Program

• The University of Colorado provides assistance to employees who travel outside of the United States. Please refer to the University Risk Management website for more information.